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good morning my friends on the hamb a friend on facebook posted this great article on great tips on car show etiqutee i was at a concert here in our town last night and this came along on my newsfeed on facebook last night and i wanted to share it with you guys and gals and i wanted to start a discussion with you.

While most people who attend car shows are kind and considerate, a small percentage are not. They will do things that annoy or insult car owners, belittle their hard work, or even damage their vehicles. No one wants scratches on the car they spent HOURS polishing to a high gloss. The trouble is, most of us have said or done something that qualifies as being rude without realizing it or meaning to. So give the following a look and make sure your not "That person." flattandscruggs. Nice post. The only thing I don't like at the car shows is where they see your nice paint job on your car and run their hands down it. GRR. Bruce.

Don’t Touch the Cars!
Seriously – don’t touch the cars.
Just don’t do it!
Don’t lean on it.
Don’t reach out and put your hands on it.
Don’t accidentally brush it with your coat or bag as you walk by.
Don’t back into it while you’re trying to take a photo of another car.
Don't rub against it as your trying to squeeze between two cars.
Just don’t do it.
Don't touch unless your naked. Zippers, snaps, buckles, rivets, watches even fingernails can and will scratch paint.
Seriously – don’t touch the cars.

Mind Your Children
Bringing a kid to a car show is wonderful thing, but your kids are your responsibility. They shouldn’t ever touch cars, throw toys that hit cars, sit in cars, sneeze on cars, stick their heads into cars and drip snot on the seats, etc. Don't let them throw dirt, rocks, toys, etc. Some people don't mind if the kid gets in the car but make sure it is okay before your kid climbs on or in a car, most people don't want fingerprints or candy stuck all over their car.

Don’t Talk Trash
You just spotted a terrible show car. It’s sloppy. It’s ugly. It’s not even clean. You roll your eyes, make snide comments, chuckle, tell your buddy what’s wrong with it, and move on. Here’s the thing, someone in the world loves that car like a member of the family. They don’t see the problems, the dirt, or the fact that it’s downright hideous. They see a beautiful machine worthy of endless attention…and they don’t need your disrespect.
The same goes for the newer cars. It doesn't have to be 40+ years old to be beautiful, fast, expensive, have a lot of work into it. Not everyone can afford a show car and a driver or they love their car so much they prefer to drive it all the time.
Unlike some, they made a big effort to come to the show, paid the entry fees, spent their time to do things to their ride, spent hours cleaning and polishing (or maybe not, you rat rod guys know what I mean) and subjected themselves to the public eye. They don’t deserve to hear trash talk…so if you can’t say anything nice, just don’t say anything. Maybe they are just getting started and wanted to show what they have started with or the mods they have done so far. Not everyone has a $200,000+ show car build by so and so. We all start somewhere.

Watch for the Lenses!
Tough to shoot photos when there is always someone in the way
There are always automotive photographers at cars shows, always someone that wants to get a picture of some nice ride. Some are there for fun and some are earning a living, news paper, magazine, etc. Don’t just ignore the photographers because you want a better look. Be polite and look around often and check that you aren’t messing up someone’s shot. Just as importantly, don’t walk into someone else’s shot. This is more true now with the high quality cameras built into phones so pay attention to your surroundings. I see this a lot and deal with it a lot myself, it's not easy getting a clean shot.

Be considerate of others.
If your showing your car, don't crank your stereo. Some people enjoy the music already playing by the DJ or Announcer. They also want to listen to any information, door prize give away, contests, problems etc. that might come across the loud system. If your blaring you bazillion watt stereo, no one can hear it.

Pick up your trash.
Don't just leave your nasty rags, empty cleaner or detail spray bottles, soda cans, water bottle etc. Someone has to clean up after the event, most times it is the person that had to get there two hours before the show to set things up. They are hot, tired and ready to go home too.

Very important, no matter what you think of the other cars, remember that a lot of hard work, blood, sweat and tears have gone into them. Someone has spent their hard earned money, time away from family or with someone special that might not be around anymore. In the end, we all share a passion about cars, we are all the same at the core.

In the end, a little common sense and courtesy goes a long way to helping everyone enjoy the show. Hope to see you there!

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I agree with a lot of this. The problem with this is almost all the people that cause the problem are non car people who could care less about the cost of building a car. They bring their dog, kid and strollers and go from car to car without a clue as how to behave. I find that car show people know how to handle themselves at shows and even watch out for other peoples cars. I would hate to think on how many times I have told people to get off someone elses car at a show.

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uncleandy.When I bring my car to car shows and walk around checking out the other rides .The only thing I may do is poke my head in the window and check out the interior and I make sure my hands are in my pockets when doing that!Bruce.

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I saw a idiot use a Model A coupe fender to sit his beer can on when taking a picture of the car beside it,the owner saw him do it and you you can bet your sweet arse he won't do that again! HRP

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Danny.I know I told this story before but when I had the State Police car. 2 guys were looking at it and the one guy put his dripping wet soda cup on the front fender while checking it out. When I rose out of my seat his friend saw me and right away took the drink off the fender and said he was sorry for what his friend did and wiped the fender off. I am sure that wasn't soda in his cup. I had a friendly cop take a picture standing next to it. Bruce.

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There's one a-hole at work that has to know what everything that everyone has costs. I bought a new pair of boots.
'What did those run?'
'$728 with free shipping.' (Less than $50)
'Holy fuck!!' I need a raise!'
Annoys the hell outta me. None of anyone's business what my stuff costs!

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I wouldn't be too happy if some one is sitting on my DD at Walmart either...just saying.

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Wraymen.On offence but I would never take my car to a Walmart car show. Do you see what kind of cars the come to do their shopping in? Your lucky if they have 3 wheels on their cars, and they are the ones you see in the store with the bottom P.J.s on with their house slippers.. LOL. Bruce.

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I know what y'all mean. I took my 4 yr old son to a car show last weekend and we went to another one today. It makes me nervous as hell taking him but he did great. I lectured him before the show during and after the show on how to act around peoples rides. Another one to ad to the list is don't spit your tobacco on the ground . Nastiest crap ever!

Member

Seems like this stuff should be common sense, but I guess it's not. I never let my kids too close to anyones' car. I encourage my wife NOT to sprawl out on other people's car for photos (maybe if she were in her early 20's again...) My car is a POS, so I don't care if people touch it, but I suppose I would if it was really nice or expensive.

Last show, we parked next to this nice old feller who had an old beat up '39 Ford Coupe he had bought a few years back from the original family, and it looked as it did 50 years ago when it was parked in some barn in western Mass (closest thing we have to hillbillies here). He just did what he needed to do to get it running and loved driving it around, taking it to shows. It was awesome, 100% original survivor, even the original dizzy. He was telling us about the old flathead and how he got it to turn over, my son was leaning in a bit close and I pulled him back, told him not to touch, then the owner said "heck, they can touch it all they want. In fact they can get in if they want!" So they did.

Those are the kind of cars we normally gravitate to at a show, and generally the kind of people I gravitate to anyway. He forgot to bring water for himself, so I hooked him up with a bunch of bottles as we pulled out in the afternoon. He and his car are the only thing I saw there that impressed me, everything else was too shiny or being defended by a knight in flip flops wielding a California duster
and a folding throne.

Clunker.I am like you. If a child wants to sit in my car at a show I will let them{no drunks though}.I always bring a cooler full of water and give it away to people who need it while the guy down the row is selling it for a $1.50. a bottle. LOL.Bruce.

Member

I took my motorcycle to a show (as a favor to a friend, he gave me a free t-shirt). A little kid comes up and touches it. His parents tells him "dont touch". I told them it was OK to sit him on it. The smile on the kids face made the time sitting doing nothing worth it.

I had my old 54 Chevy at a show and a older man walks up with his adult son who was clearly blind and obviously had other issues. The man tells me that a 54 Chevy was his sons favorite car. I Didn't ask why as he couldn't see but......I told him to go ahead and touch. He ran his hands over the car which made his day. His dad was very appreciative.

I get the morons that will place a beer on your car or that leans on the door looking in with a big buckle banging the door but we also take it all too seriously some times.

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1. If you are afraid that anyone could touch your car:Don't participate in car shows. Stay at home with your car.Outside in real life cars are touched by humans. Many cars survived this their whole life long. Yes sometimes cars get scratches and dents. It belongs to a car live. At least - imagine - it’s history.

2. If you are afraid of children:Don't participate in car shows. Stay at home with your car.Children like cars. Remember when you were young. With your friends looking into cars. Through the sidewindow, standing on your toes, hiding the sun with your hand, trying to see the speedometer. You know: There is always 20 MPH more on it then the car’s top speed. So subtract these 20 MPH and you know how fast the car is. Many car enthusiasts started like this. If you don’t give kids the possibility to get acquainted with cars: They will have no relationship to cars. They later become lawyers, politicans, they work for the government - and at the end we all must drive e-cars only because you didn’t let them come in contact with your car!

3. If you are afraid that people ask stupid questions:Don't participate in car shows. Stay at home with your car.People are not in the hobby - they ask stuff that sounds stupid to you but they are really interested in. Like you at a horse show. Nothing is better for our hobby than answering questions of interessted people. Nothing is more worse for a hobby than to judge these people.

4. If you are not able to answer even stupid questions:Do not only not participate in car shows - sell the car and search another hobby.Now.

5. If you can’t stand negative comments about your car:Don't participate in car shows. Stay at home with your car.Tastes are different. You might think your car is the best and prettiest in the world - and for you for sure it is. But other people may have another taste. It might surprise you but many people even don’t give a shit about cars. They use it for driving from A to B, nothing more.So do not expect respect. What for you is love, much work and a holy grail - for many people it’s just a car. Face reality. It’s not the kindergarten where you can expect, if you go alone and without help to toilet everybody jubilates.If you need a car to pimp up your personality - put yourself in medical attendance.

6. If you don’t understand the sense of a car show:Don't participate in car shows. Stay at home with your car.Car shows are not for showing how much money you have, that your car is better than others and so on. If you want to compare your dick size: find a dragstrip and stop talking.Car shows are a great support for our hobby. We want to show cars to normal people that they understand our interest and we show a living part of history. And this in a cool atmosphere - otherwise they can go in a museum.

7. If you don’t want dogs pissing on your tires:Don't buy a car.Since the first car was made dogs were pissing on car tires. 1863 Étienne Lenoir drove the first time his Hippomobile. The first car ever with a combusting engine. He parked the car outside on the street but forgot his gloves and so he goes back in the garage. As he returned a dog had pissed on a tire of his car.You see since 154 years dogs are pissing against car tires. They love cars. Like you.Apart from this: Generally dogs are displaced in crowds of people. But this - like many other stuff at car shows - is the responsibility of the organiser of the event and I can not understand why many of them don’t care about this.

8. If you spend 300.000,- $ for a paint job:Don't participate in car shows.Don't participate in anything. Stay at home and wait until the doctor is coming.

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Some years back I was at a local cruise [which is actually an outdoor show] when this guy with jeans on leans back against this red 65 GTO telling his buddy a big long windy story. Another fellow comes up and interrupts the story teller..asks him if that's his GTO. Guy says no and the first guy says "It's mine and you're scratching my brand new paint job with your jeans rivets". The leaner gets mouthy and it's ON!
Mister "rivets in his jeans" won't soon lean on anybody's car again. The scratches probably buffed out.

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There is something about someone's car that is really personal, and if someone "violates or trespasses" in that space it does cause a visceral reaction in just about anyone. I get all these reactions.

I didn't really understand it until one day in the 1990's (in LA) driving down Sunset Blvd, a surfer/hippy dude stepped off the curb into a cross walk in front of me, basically signaling that he wanted me to stop and let him walk across. My '57 Ranchero could hardly stop at all anyway, let alone on a dime at 30 mph, I was never gonna stop in time, so I kept going. He got mad and tossed his super-large paper cup full of "whatever-frozen-orange drink" from 7-11 and it exploded all over my windshield in a glorious orange, watery curtain. Now, I'm a pretty "chill/emotional waters are always calm" kind of guy, not a big muscly one either, more like an awkward, scrawny one. But I just saw red, drove up on the curb, yanked on the emergency brake, jumped out, leaving the door wide open, car running and chased him up the street, on foot, into one of these hilly LA neighborhoods. He nearly leaped out of his Birkenstocks, running as fast as he could up the hill, was pleading in his surfer-dude accent, never looking back: "C'mon man! Stop! I didn't mean it bro' ! I don't wanna fight! Let's be friends, man!" I said absolutely nothing and kept after him. We ended up circling around this little Honda and every time I went left he went right, we were never going to get anywhere. But I still didn't say anything, or stop trying to get at him. There was this little Asian guy watering his lawn there, and he started squirting us with his hose "You boys no-fight ! You boys no-fight !" The surfer-dude was kinda fat and hyperventilating, so I just stopped, and said "you are a fu&&&& ass$&&€£, dude", then just turned around, walked back to my car. (that 'aint "fiction", it happened exactly like that)

I'm not down with violence or being an over-defensive dick, I don't think cars are more important than people, but my point here is that I can totally understand the guy with the GTO and some of the other big reactions in this thread at car shows, when normal people have had their "car-space" violated. The funny thing is that by going to a car show, we are purposely exposing ourselves to this. Even a daily driver, there's just something about messing with someone's car that is just taboo that doesn't apply to anything else. I have never gotten angry when someone's run into my shopping cart or sat on my front stoop uninvited, there's something deeply psychological there with cars.

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Seems to be a lot of people getting upset when someone asks how much money they have in their car. I always used to say, " It depends on if you want the figure I tell most people or the one I tell my wife, both of which are either over or under inflated, since you and I aren't married it's $$$$$$ , thanks for looking.

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Most people around here are pretty courteous at car shows. This is a boy who showed a lot of interest in my coupe at a show, so I asked him if he wanted to sit in it. He jumped right in and seemed to be having the time of his life.
When he got out, his dad asked him which was his favorite car there and he said "that red corvette over there" pointing across the park. Thanks kid!
I guess they are pretty truthful as well as courteous.

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Wraymen.On offence but I would never take my car to a Walmart car show. Do you see what kind of cars the come to do their shopping in? Your lucky if they have 3 wheels on their cars, and they are the ones you see in the store with the bottom P.J.s on with their house slippers.. LOL. Bruce.

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Bruce, I rarely even go to Walmart much less take my Austin. I was just commenting that being an ass with some one else's property is wrong. It doesn't matter if its a high dollar show car or a heap. The DD is my daily driver.
I agree that when you take your car out in the public shit is going to happen. I'm OK with that and its not a big deal to me. Being an ass at any event is another matter and I do have a problem with that.

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Seems like this stuff should be common sense, but I guess it's not. I never let my kids too close to anyones' car. I encourage my wife NOT to sprawl out on other people's car for photos (maybe if she were in her early 20's again...) My car is a POS, so I don't care if people touch it, but I suppose I would if it was really nice or expensive.

Last show, we parked next to this nice old feller who had an old beat up '39 Ford Coupe he had bought a few years back from the original family, and it looked as it did 50 years ago when it was parked in some barn in western Mass (closest thing we have to hillbillies here). He just did what he needed to do to get it running and loved driving it around, taking it to shows. It was awesome, 100% original survivor, even the original dizzy. He was telling us about the old flathead and how he got it to turn over, my son was leaning in a bit close and I pulled him back, told him not to touch, then the owner said "heck, they can touch it all they want. In fact they can get in if they want!" So they did.

Those are the kind of cars we normally gravitate to at a show, and generally the kind of people I gravitate to anyway. He forgot to bring water for himself, so I hooked him up with a bunch of bottles as we pulled out in the afternoon. He and his car are the only thing I saw there that impressed me, everything else was too shiny or being defended by a knight in flip flops wielding a California duster
and a folding throne.

I'm not much of a car show guy but when I do go I could care less if people touch or sit in Rusty but I do tell them to be careful not to cut themselves or they might get tetanus! I completely understand those who do have nice rides and how stupid people can be but given my ride I don't have those concerns.

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Shoot, that's about the only reason I like my car, is it's typically the Hooptie of the show, so people can touch it and everything. Previous owner gave it a splotchy rattle can paint job, I left and and even use the trunk as a seat

Member

I'm not much of a car show guy but when I do go I could care less if people touch or sit in Rusty but I do tell them to be careful not to cut themselves or they might get tetanus! I completely understand those who do have nice rides and how stupid people can be but given my ride I don't have those concerns.

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I know what you mean, all my stuff is low buck. I'm still proud but realistic. I would gladly be the owner of that truck in your avatar. It has character and that is a good thing.

My biggest complaint is the folks who cut up other people's cars at shows.
Half of them don't own a car anyway or just have to make themselves feel better about their car by putting others down.
I love talking about my cars to people who are interested in hearing about them, but I'm not interested in hearing their opinions about what's wrong with my car.

I drove a car an hour to a car show and had someone tell me the small block Ford in it wouldn't run with the 600 Holley on it.

We built my dads car with an automatic because he has knee pain and can't work a heavy clutch, some asshat told him a hot rod with an automatic was like a Harley with training wheels, asshat didn't own a Harley or a hot rod and had come to the show on the city bus.
And how come I can't take my '54 wagon out in public without someone telling me it should have a flathead instead of a y block, or shouting nice studebaker at me!

I always assume the owner knows more about their car than I do and it's an opportunity to learn something.

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We love to enjoy our cars,and share them with others. Surely, the few eff it up for the many, the best example is a local organization puttin' on a show for charity. Honorable cause, but the cars are the entertainment for folks who ordinarily would never go to a show. These are off my list. The Showdown, Jalopyrama, Hamb drags, etc.. are my goals.
Steffen, my bro from the Fatherland, you spoke volumes! It's important to not be ''that guy'.'
Bruce - Everyone should go to a Wal Mart in Tennessee. For the culture.

Member

Wraymen.On offence but I would never take my car to a Walmart car show. Do you see what kind of cars the come to do their shopping in? Your lucky if they have 3 wheels on their cars, and they are the ones you see in the store with the bottom P.J.s on with their house slippers.. LOL. Bruce.